Of all teams in the NFL, none has seen as big a decline in attendance as the Miami Dolphins. In the 2001-2002 season, the team brought in an average of 73,470 fans to watch home games, the seventh-highest in the NFL. By the 2011-2012 season, that figure dropped to 60,866, the fifth-lowest. In the last 10 full seasons, the team has gone 60-84 and has had three consecutive losing seasons in a row. Its worst season by far was the 2007-2008 season, when the Dolphins won just one game. The team isn’t performing stellar this year either. Under the direction of Joe Philbin, the sixth head coach in 10 years, the team’s current record is 4-6.

It should not be understated that Florida gained a third NFL team in 1995. If you consider the time that it takes for a new team to saturate a region into its fan base, I think that the Jaguars have certainly impinged on what was once Miami Dolphins territory.

You could then also factor the Buccaneers Superbowl win in 2002 as a sort of resurgence for a team that had been largely irrelevant for a very, very long time. They obviously picked up some new fans during that stretch.

Obviously, since 2000, it has mostly been downhill for Miami. This really shouldn't come as a surprise to the NFL. The Dolphins organization's region is basically south Florida. Its TV region is incredibly small now since Tampa Bay has west Florida and Jacksonville has East Florida, and then there's Atlanta. How the hell is anyone supposed to watch this team on TV? Oh... I guess I'm expected to go follow the Seahawks.

Well the bandwagon fans that aren't following the Dolphins when they're losing, can just stay away when the Dolphins start winning again. We don't want you back so stay away. Fickle fans need not apply.

Of all teams in the NFL, none has seen as big a decline in attendance as the Miami Dolphins. In the 2001-2002 season, the team brought in an average of 73,470 fans to watch home games, the seventh-highest in the NFL. By the 2011-2012 season, that figure dropped to 60,866, the fifth-lowest. In the last 10 full seasons, the team has gone 60-84 and has had three consecutive losing seasons in a row. Its worst season by far was the 2007-2008 season, when the Dolphins won just one game. The team isn’t performing stellar this year either. Under the direction of Joe Philbin, the sixth head coach in 10 years, the team’s current record is 4-6.

Who would have thought having more losing seasons in the past 9 years than the team had in the previous 35+ years could have a negative impact on the fanbase?

Having a clueless owner like Huizenga for years and years doesn't help either, especially when he hands the keys to the franchise to an over the hill huckster like Parcells who, in turn, hands them over to an incompetent like Sparano.

The Miami Dolphins have had the biggest decline in attendance of any NFL team.
Although the Miami Dolphins have struggled this season, the team does rank highest in the National Football League for one thing – the highest decline in attendance.According to a 24/7 Wall St. study, the Dolphins had the seventh-highest attendance in the NFL for the 2001-2002 season with 73,470 fans watching home games. For the 2011-2012 season, attendance had fallen to the fifth-lowest in the league with only 60,866 fans in the stands.
Attendance at Dolphins games has declined 17.1 percent over the last 10 years. Although it is not the highest decline by percentage, the team has fallen quite far from among the highest in attendance to among the lowest. The decline is attributed to the teams’ record and having three consecutive losing seasons.

Add in the fact that the godawful decline came during a decade where we've seen the at-home viewing experience become exponentially better coupled with the economy tanking and you have a recipe for attendance disaster. They couldn't have chosen a worse decade to provide a **** product.

Add in the fact that the godawful decline came during a decade where we've seen the at-home viewing experience become exponentially better coupled with the economy tanking and you have a recipe for attendance disaster. They couldn't have chosen a worse decade to provide a **** product.

Wow, that's a big surprise. You have to wonder why people don't go see our team lose a whole lot more than win. I truly believe that Dolphins fans are as much die hard as any other group of fans. There's a lot to do in Miami tho and all that losing it's not going to bring the fans in. In GB people have nothing else to do and nowhere else to go so they go even if they lose. Our fans are out there waiting a return to the glory days. Start winning in a consisten basis and the fans will support the team. Keep on mind the economy is bad and now we know it's going to stay bad for at least 4 more years....lol

A true fan sticks with their team through good and bad times. They don't jump ship and not show up until their team starts winning. That mentality is ridiculous. Either you're with the Dolphins or your against the Dolphins. It's that simple. There's no riding the fence.

I wouldn't give a damn, if I was the only Miami Dolphins fan in the world. When we have lost as much as we have it has consequences, and unfortunately losing fans, and fans deciding to watch the game at home is part of that losing.

And some day we will get to winning on a consistent basis, and that has it's own set of consequences as well.

A true fan sticks with their team through good and bad times. They don't jump ship and not show up until their team starts winning. That mentality is ridiculous. Either you're with the Dolphins or your against the Dolphins. It's that simple. There's no riding the fence.

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Diehards do show up. That's not the problem. The problem lies in getting the average fans to show up. Not everybody is a diehard like those that take the time to post on this site. Many, especially in markets like Miami, Phoenix, SD, etc. will go if it's a product worth seeing. Otherwise, they spend their disposable income elsewhere. People keep viewing the Miami market through the eyes of places like Green Bay. It's not even remotely close to the same kind of market. In Green Bay, you have a bunch of people that grew up there, just as every damn person in their family did. They grew up in a culture of the Green Bay Packers being the only thing that matters and the only thing worth doing on a Sunday outside of going to church (if you're into that sorta thing).

Miami is a COMPLETELY different market. It makes absolutely zero sense to compare these markets. Miami is a place where only about, what, 20% of the population was actually born there? The majority are transplants from other states, or worse, immigrants (by worse, I don't mean anything racial, I mean it's worse for a sports business that isn't as popular overseas as other sports). Places like GB and Buffalo don't have this problem because nobody wants to ****ing move there. Harsh, but true. So, with Miami, you have a weird situation. You have a bunch of people that were born there that moved away for work or because times got to tough and they had to move on (same happened in every market that was hit the hardest, such as Phoenix) and you have a bunch of transplants and immigrants. This is one big reason why the team remains popular nationwide, despite a decline at home.

The market is still there, but it's a different kind of market. This is key. There was always a market in places like Phoenix (I keep using them because I lived there) despite it's huge transplant population, however, nobody showed up to those games because it was an absolutely horrible product. Then, suddenly, they started winning. What happened? Miraculously, fans started showing up. The stadium was selling out. Part of this had to do with it being a new stadium, but that won't be enough. That stadium is in the middle of ****ing nowhere. It was literally surrounded by farms when it was built, so once that team starts losing regularly again, that attendance will plummet.

That's just the market. Ridicule the fanbase all you want, it just means you don't have a clue about how this kind of business works. That's like Borders bashing customers for not wanting to pay $30 to carry bricks around anymore rather than adjusting to what the customers actually want. In this case, the customers want a winning team. Once that happens, then they can start rebuilding a larger foundation of diehards that will stay loyal during dips in competitiveness, though that will never, ever last long in a market like Miami. The fanbase turnover is too great. Once they start winning consistently, the average fans will begin to turn into diehards, as will their kids. Anybody that grew up in Miami during the 70's, 80's and most of the 90's knows what that is like.

Diehards do show up. That's not the problem. The problem lies in getting the average fans to show up. Not everybody is a diehard like those that take the time to post on this site. Many, especially in markets like Miami, Phoenix, SD, etc. will go if it's a product worth seeing. Otherwise, they spend their disposable income elsewhere. People keep viewing the Miami market through the eyes of places like Green Bay. It's not even remotely close to the same kind of market. In Green Bay, you have a bunch of people that grew up there, just as every damn person in their family did. They grew up in a culture of the Green Bay Packers being the only thing that matters and the only thing worth doing on a Sunday outside of going to church (if you're into that sorta thing).

Miami is a COMPLETELY different market. It makes absolutely zero sense to compare these markets. Miami is a place where only about, what, 20% of the population was actually born there? The majority are transplants from other states, or worse, immigrants (by worse, I don't mean anything racial, I mean it's worse for a sports business that isn't as popular overseas as other sports). Places like GB and Buffalo don't have this problem because nobody wants to ****ing move there. Harsh, but true. So, with Miami, you have a weird situation. You have a bunch of people that were born there that moved away for work or because times got to tough and they had to move on (same happened in every market that was hit the hardest, such as Phoenix) and you have a bunch of transplants and immigrants. This is one big reason why the team remains popular nationwide, despite a decline at home.

The market is still there, but it's a different kind of market. This is key. There was always a market in places like Phoenix (I keep using them because I lived there) despite it's huge transplant population, however, nobody showed up to those games because it was an absolutely horrible product. Then, suddenly, they started winning. What happened? Miraculously, fans started showing up. The stadium was selling out. Part of this had to do with it being a new stadium, but that won't be enough. That stadium is in the middle of ****ing nowhere. It was literally surrounded by farms when it was built, so once that team starts losing regularly again, that attendance will plummet.

That's just the market. Ridicule the fanbase all you want, it just means you don't have a clue about how this kind of business works. That's like Borders bashing customers for not wanting to pay $30 to carry bricks around anymore rather than adjusting to what the customers actually want. In this case, the customers want a winning team. Once that happens, then they can start rebuilding a larger foundation of diehards that will stay loyal during dips in competitiveness, though that will never, ever last long in a market like Miami. The fanbase turnover is too great. Once they start winning consistently, the average fans will begin to turn into diehards, as will their kids. Anybody that grew up in Miami during the 70's, 80's and most of the 90's knows what that is like.

It is just that simple. You never saw puke England fans in central Florida during the 80s when they were irrelevant. A decade if botched moves and home record if 1 and 15 for 2012 and 2011 did not help.

I see this has turned into yet another "you're a fair-weather fan" thread.

Just because it's sports, it doesn't make it any less of a business for me. You wouldn't continue giving any other business your money if the product was bad for months, let alone the better part of a decade. Call it whatever you wish. I love the Dolphins as much or more than anyone else here, but I'm not spending money on subpar product. Damnit, these are the Dolphins we're talking about. I remember a time when this was a very proud franchise. I have high standards. Everyone else should as well.

What about the Hurricanes? They can have a winning record and win their division and the stadium is half empty. Horrible fan support. It seems like the fans don't show up for the Hurricanes games unless they're ranked in the top 5 and are undefeated.